Flexible support for busy communications teams

When businesses think of employing external consultants, they often picture high daily rates, expense accounts and calls for an increased budget – but it doesn’t have to be that way. In communications, marketing and PR there are always plenty of opportunities to spend your money – but there are also many ways to save.

Working with an expert will mean jobs are done more quickly, more efficiently, and right first time. And a good communications professional can also help identify the thriftier options to reduce your overall spend.

Some of the areas where the right advice and support can save you time and money include:

Video

Video streaming can be a valuable addition to your communications mix, but it’s often not necessary to pay for professional video services – truly embrace social media channels like You Tube and Instagram by creating films more cheaply in-house. Even the biggest of corporates use this tactic of filming impromptu videos of their senior managers, customers, patients or staff talking to camera to share their messages in an engaging or ‘real’ way. Your basic smartphone should be fine for producing these.

Social media

Using a range of social media is a relatively inexpensive method for getting messages out there, encouraging interaction and sharing news through word of mouth. The main cost is measured in your time, and external communications support can help keep that to a minimum by planning a campaign, writing the posts and even scheduling them for you – quickly and efficiently.

Websites

In some instances you may want to take on a web design company to create an all-singing, all-dancing website – if you’re planning an e-commerce site, for example – but if you’re watching the pennies and have some technical expertise you may well be able to create and then update your own site.

Maintaining a website requires a combination of skills – writing, fact checking, managing approval processes, and some technical expertise to make the updates. At The Effective English Company not only can we produce clear, accurate text, combined but we also have many years’ experience and knowledge of NHS procedures and systems and the technical skills to update the website quickly and easily on your behalf.

Whether you outsource support or maintain the site in-house, having a website that’s easy to update is essential for any communications team, particularly when you need to issue important messages in a hurry.

Newsletters

There are a number of ways you can keep newsletter costs to a minimum:

Instead of paying to print a newsletter, if your audience is mainly office-based you could consider going completely electronic

If you’d still like to have a printed copy available, consider reducing the number of pages by keeping the articles shorter and including links to your website or other resources for further information for those who are interested.

When did you last look at the newsletter distribution? If it was a year or more ago a quick review of quantities, locations and average wastage may show that you could reduce your print run. Do you need to print an individual copy for each member of staff or would two or three copies placed in a staff room or other communal area reach most people?

PR and advertising

If you’re struggling for advertising budget, remember that a well-placed press release containing news that’s genuinely of interest to your local or trade media should gain you some coverage without paying for an advert.

Small changes; big results

It’s all about the little tweaks that can make all the difference – and knowing how and where to make those small changes that count.

At The Effective English Company we work to maximise our clients’ return on their budgets by working quickly and effectively, getting things right first time and only charging for the work we actually do. We can also highlight areas where money can perhaps be spent more wisely.

To look at making your money go further, talk to us today and we may be able to suggest ways to tweak your communications plan and tactics to make your money go further.

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